Senior Corrections Officer

By MARK STORY

Name: Andrew Widdicombe

Age: 29

Job Title: Senior Corrections Officer

Working hours: 40-hour week on rotating shifts, and overtime

Employer: Department of Corrections

Pay: Salary band ranges from $32,825 to $48,325.

Qualifications: Pass the criminal convictions check, have a NZ driver's licence, NZ citizenship (or equivalent), and a first-aid certificate.

Career prospects: Progressing up the ranks to principal corrections officer, unit, site and regional manager or other state sector roles such as Customs, Inmate Employment and Community Probation - through to supervisory roles within the private sector.

Q. What do you do?

A. I manage a team of around five correction officers who are responsible for running a wing, housing up to 60 inmates at Mt Eden jail.

I brief the team on what's got to happen on any given day - for example new arrivals' medicals and ensuring they get done.

Each officer is assigned to certain inmates as a case officer. No two days are ever the same, beyond core duties - including locking, unlocking, breakfasts and showers. Correction officers could be involved in escorting an inmate to another jail, to court or to hospital. I once had to accompany 16 inmates on a chartered flight to Invercargill.

As a remand jail we need to ensure inmates awaiting trial or sentencing get in touch with the relevant government agencies, including Winz, legal aid, drug rehab or medical and psychological needs.

Q. Why did you choose this job?

A. I responded to a recruitment drive being held at a shopping mall more than six years ago. What attracted me was the variety of work. I'd been a truck driver and was getting tired of doing the same thing every day.

Q. What skills do you need to become a corrections officer?

A. Part of our job is to try to reduce the likelihood of inmates re-offending through positive role-modelling. It's important to have good literacy skills, a good command of spoken English, and be reasonably fit.

You also need the maturity and life skills necessary to deal with people at all levels.

That means being able to interact with them on a personal and professional basis. As a lot of work - for example sentence-plan reviews or risk assessments - is done via computer, it's useful to be PC literate when you start.

Q. Best part of the job?

A. Around 80 per cent of my time is spent on the wing, but I find the sheer variety of work stimulating.

Q. Most challenging/difficult part of the job?

A. While the constant variety of work is enjoyable it also has its challenges.

The hardest part of the job is being around so many different people inside the jail. Learning to deal with people with some pretty unsavoury backgrounds can also be challenging.

Q. What sort of training do you get?

A. New recruits go to the Upper Hutt prison college for an initial five-week induction. This introductory training encompasses everything from theory, the law, through to report writing.

A week's training in control and restraint (C&R) also ensures officers use sufficient force to prevent physical damage to themselves or others. In addition to half-yearly refresher training, officers receive ongoing instruction in things such as fire fighting, drug searching and first aid.

Q. What would you tell someone contemplating a career in this industry?

A. The negative image of prison officers portrayed on television is false. The notion you can get away with treating inmates poorly is wrong. Ask yourself if you want to make a difference?

I wouldn't recommend someone contemplates this as an occupation until they've developed a few life skills first. You've got to be someone who knows how to deal with people the right way.